Finlay Bio
If there's one thing that Finlay loves to do, it's fight. Since 1978, Finlay has been doing just that all over the world.
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The Beginning
Finlay was born on October 20, 1958 in Belfast, Ireland as David Edward Finlay.
His wrestling career began in 1978 after being trained by Ted Betley. That's years before the majority of wrestling fans were born. To see him still working Smackdowns and pay per views is impressive.
Finlay wrestled in various companies and various countries throughout the early 80s. He was tied to a wrestling company called Joint Promotions where he won several different championships.
In Germany and Austria, Finlay worked for the Catch Wrestling Association, a company that was big enough to get coverage in Pro Wrestling Illustrated. While there, he also worked with another WWE alum, Dave Taylor.
World Championship Wrestling
Finlay came to the United States and began working for WCW (World Championshp Wrestling), where he was a low level and midcard wrestler.
It wasn't a surprise that he wasn't elevated to the main event because the nWo basically dominated the shows.
About a decade before they became a big part of the WWE, Finlay, William Regal, and King Booker were wrestling against one another in WCW. |
Finlay and William Regal were engaged in a smal feud. The two engaged in a parking lot brawl that ended with Finlay getting glass in his eyes. Being the tough guy that he is, Finlay continued working with a patch over his eye.
After a while, Finlay was finally moved up to the WCW midcard scene, where he won the WCW World Television Championship. It was during this time where he engaged in battles with Chris Benoit and King Booker.
A big push was expected for Finlay when management booked him to win the innovative Hardcore Junkyard Invitational match. Unfortunately, his leg was severely injured, and he was forced to take some time off. Once again, Finlay's toughness came through as he managed to make a comeback despite the doctors giving him only a 50% chance of walking again.
When Finlay came back, WCW wanted to put him in a hardcore stable along with Sabu and Brian Knobs. Sabu had some contract issues, so he was replaced by Al Green.
Finlay's tenure with WCW ended shortly after that.
Independent
After Finlay left WCW, he started working some matches in the United States independent wrestling scene. Afterwards, he decided to head back to England to work matches over there.
World Wrestling Federation
It was shortly around this time that Finlay was contacted by the WWE. They wanted him as an agent. While working as an agent, Finlay was responsible for developing the skills of some of the WWE divas.
When the WWE needed an experienced veteran who knew how to work a match and can carry the younger inexperienced wrestlers, they turned to Finlay.
To give Finlay instant credibility, the writers decided to highlight his tough guy image. His first few matches on Smackdown ended up with him losing matches via disqualification for being to aggressive with his opponents.
Coach in the Ring
It ended up being a smart move as Finlay has consistently shown that he's one of the better in-ring performers in the entire company. He has more fundamentals than the entire younger half of the WWE roster.
Old age or not, Finlay has played a big part in elevating younger wrestlers.
Finlay was used in a feud with Bobby Lashley to help elevate him. His reliablity has earned him spots in two Money in the Bank matches. When the WWE wanted to elevate King Booker with a stable, they turned to Finlay and William Regal.
United States Heavyweight Championship.
For all of his hard work, Finlay was rewarded with the WWE United States Heavyweight Championship. Finlay won the title from rising star Bobby Lashley, which said a lot about how highly management viewed him.
After defending the WWE United States Heavyweight Championship against stablemate William Regal, Finlay was defeated by Mr Kennedy in a triple threat involving Bobby Lashley as well.
The Little Bastard
Finlay proved to be a loyal company man as he was willing to engage in a feud against the Boogeyman. The feud also included Hornswoggle and the Little Boogeyman. Considering how old school Finlay is, comedic matches involving two midgets and a man dressed up with red face paint wasn't what he had in mind.
Protecting the Champ
When management decided to put the World Heavyweight Championship on the Great Khali, they knew they would need to take additional steps to protect him from being exposed as a terribly inadequate wrestler. Once again, they turned to Finlay to help out by putting the two in tag team matches all over the house show circuit.
The writers even started up a feud between Finlay and Kane to help mask the Great Khali's weaknesses in the ring. Finlay was paired up in a tag team with the Great Khali, while Kane was partnered up with Batista.
Closing Thoughts
Finlay is actually unappreciated by the majority of the WWE fans because his style isn't flashy. He doesn't do the acrobatic jumps that John Morrison does. In fact, if Finlay was working in TNA, most WWE fans would simply bash his age.
The wrestling purists, though, fully appreciate Finlay for everything that he brings to the table. |
